Photographic mask



c. H. GADY.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MASK. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 19,1920.

1,399,1 9,. Patented Dec. 6,1921.

d INVENTOR,

J ATTORNEY.

opaque material having an openin PATENT QFFICE.

CHARLES H. GADY, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

PHOTOGRAPHIG MASK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

Application filed October 19, 1920. Serial No. 418,062.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. CADY, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Omaha, county of Douglas, and State of Nebraska,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a PhotographicMask, and have described the same in the following specification,illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of masks which are commonly used inthe process of photographic printing for the purpose of intercepting theaotinic rays between the marginal portions of the negative plate and thecorresponding portions of a piece of sensitized paper applied thereto,and which individually comprise a sheet of where the printing rays passthrough. t is the main object of my improvements to adapt a mask of thisclass to be used with speed and efficiency in the printing ofcombination photographs, so called, comprising individually a pluralityof single photographs printed successively on a single sheet; toexpedite the operation of printing such combination photographs; and tofacilitate the due alinement and uniform spacing of the singlephotographs printed on the single sheet. To accomplish these results, Iincorporate in my improved photographic mask, as parts thereof, abackingsheet which has a longitudinal guideway and an exposure opening, and amask proper whichis slidable in the guideway and has a plurality ofwindows adapted to register with the exposure opening successively.

In said drawings, illustrating the best manner in which I havecontemplated applying the principles of the invention, Figure 1 1s aperspective view of the backing sheet of a mask which is constructed inaccordance with these principles. Fig. 2'is a like View of the maskproper of the same photographic mask. Fig. 3 is a like view of the sameentire mask and an applied strip of sensitized paper, all operativelyassembled. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross section on the section line ofFig. 1, and shows the backing sheet, the mask proper, the sensitizedpaper and a photographic negative plate, all operatively assembled.

In this illustrative specimen of my invention, the backing sheet isdenoted by the numeral 6. This is a fiat strip of thick dark paper, orother material impervious to actinic rays, and has a central exposureopening 7 which is of proper size and shape to fit the negative plate 8and to permit the latter to be adjusted therein by a slight movement oftranslation transversely of the strip. It has opposite upturned edgeportions 9, mutually parallel and folded over toward each other to serveas retaining guides for the mask proper which is to be inserted in theguideway between them. Likewise it has a pair of terminal wings, orflaps 10, which are joined to the body of the sheet by the folds orhinges 11 and are adapted to overlap one another when folded together.

The mask proper is also a flat strip of 'similarly'impervious material,12. It has a plurality of alined exposure openings, or windows, 13,which are slightly smaller than the exposure opening 7, are uniformlyspaced apart, and are severally adapted to register centrally with thatopening. It is slightly shorter than the body of the backing sheet 6, inorder that it may be confined thereto by the closing of the wings 7 whenthe apparatus is not in use. It is of suitable width to be slidinglyadjustable endwise under and between the retaining guides 9; isinscribed with visible characters, such as the numerals 1 to 5inclusive, to identify the several windows 13 and to distinguish themfrom each other; and is provided with the marginal stop guides 14, whichare strips of paper stuck to the face of the mask proper to aid inadjusting and retaining in position thereon a strip of sensitized paper15 over the windows 13, as shown in Fig. 3. These guides locate ordefine the seat of the sensitized paper on the mask in the positionshown in Fig. 3.

In the use of this mask, the photographer first lays the backing sheetfiat on the glass top of a printing machine of any ordinary type, notshown in the drawings, and inserts the selected negative plate 8 in theexposure opening 7 as shown in Fig. 4:. As need may require he adjuststhis negative therein transversely of the strip. Then, by inserting themask proper under and between the guides 9, and by sliding the sameendwise in the guideway formed by them, he covers therewith the marginalportions of the underlying negative plate, and the edges of the opening7 whereinit is contained, as well as all the lines or spaces ofseparation between the plate and these edges,

and exposes the central portion, or sight, of the negative at any one ofthe windows he may have selected for the purpose, as, for example, thewindow 1. Then he lays and adjusts" the strip of sensitized paper fiaton the face of the mask proper in contact with the stop guides 14, asshown, and causes the same to remain in that position while the printingfrom the selected negative takes place in the usual manner. Then withanother negative, substituted for the first, and with the mask properand the sensitized paper thereon similarly adjusted to a substitutedposition, as, for example, with the window 2 over the sight of thenegative, he repeats the same operation;

and continues repeating the operation with other negatives until theseveral constltuent single photographs of the resulting combinationphotograph have been successively printed on the single strip ofsensitized paper through the several windows 13 respectively.

I claim as my invention 1. A photographic mask comprising a backingsheet having a longitudinal guideway and an exposure opening, which isadapted to accommodate in succession a plurality of negative platesadjustable in the opening, a mask proper adapted to slide in theguideway and having a plurality of alined windows adapted to registersuccessively with the exposure opening, and a seat for sensitized paperon the face of the mask proper.

2. A photographic mask comprising a backing sheet having an exposureopening for the accommodation of a succession of negative platesadjustable therein, a mask proper having a plurality of windows andslidable in a guideway on the backing sheet so as to uncover at thewindows in succession a middle portion of the exposure opening and of anegative plate therein, while covering marginal portions of the same,and means for seating a piece of sensitized paper on the face and overthe windows of the mask proper.

Witness my signature at Omaha, Nebraska, October 16, 1920. V '7 CHARLESH. CADY.

